Columbia volleyball players practice at the Tyson Events Center Sunday, November 30, 2008, as they prepare for the NAIA Volleyball National Championship. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
I got a sneak peak at the set-up at the Tyson Events Center for the NAIA Volleyball National Championship which starts on Tuesday. 24 teams will be competing during the five-day event. Check back later in the week for photos from this event.
Morningisde’s Joe Don Hunter leaps in for a touchdown as he is hit by Lindenwood’s Matt Espey during NAIA football action at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, Saturday, November 29, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
This game was what a football play-off game should be like (well, except for Morningside being on the short end of the score. Lots of great action and the final outcome wasn’t decided until the final few seconds.
I mixed up my lenses a bit for this game, I used the 2X extender with my 200/2 on one body and my 70-200/2.8 on the second body. I think it’s safe to say I definitely prefer the 1.4X Extender over the 2X. The 2X is plenty sharp, but it really slows down the autofocus. I think it might be good for some situations in bright daylight or when focus speed is not important, but I think for sports I might reserve it for times when I must have that extra reach.
Oh, and the brave, cold fans were back at the game today, this time with bright, colorful wigs. The editors were wanting a feature photo from the game for page one, and this one would have been great, but the same girls were in the paper a week ago, unfortunately when the photo was buried inside and in black and white. Oh well.
Morningside College students Emily Petermann, a senior from Sioux Falls, Val Weber, a senior from Sioux Falls, and Lindsay Neste, a senior from Bremerton, Washington, brave the cold as they cheer for the Mustangs as they take on Lindenwood during NAIA football action at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, Saturday, November 29, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
North’s Kari Ceasar shoots while guarded by Lawton-Bronson, Kristi Grau, left, and Katelyn Brockhaus during action at the Bishop Heelan Girls’ Basketball Tip-Off Classic, Saturday, November 29, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
I wish I had more time to post more pics from this tournament, but I did upload a couple of shots from each game in the photo gallery.
A clown walks along the parade route during the Downtown for the Holidays celebration on Fourth Street Monday, November 24, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
A parade at night. I was reaching into my bag of tricks to photograph this assignment.
The shot of the clown was done with flash and a long exposure. I twisted the camera during the exposure to create the blur of lights in the background and the flash froze the clown. The photo of the Sioux City Roller Dame float (and that was an awesome looking float!) was pretty straight forward. The camera was on a tripod and I shot the photo as they drove past. It didn’t turnout quite as cool as I had hoped. I wish I would have either used a longer shutter speed and had more motion blur, or a fast shutter speed to better freeze the image.
And the shot of Santa, that was just a camera on a tripod and I aimed straight up above him to get the fireworks. I had to set the exposure for Santa, and he was standing under the lights. I have some better fireworks shots in the photo gallery, but Santa was the star of the show so I have to use a shot of him.
The Sioux City Roller Dames float rolls along the parade route.
Fireworks explode above Santa.
Morningside College students Emily Petermann, a senior from Sioux Falls, Val Weber, a senior from Sioux Falls, and Lindsay Neste, a senior from Bremerton, Washington, brave the cold as they cheer for the Mustangs as they take on Baker during NAIA football action at Morningside College Saturday, November 22, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
I was freezing my tush off along the sidelines this afternoon. I can’t imagine how cold it was for these three Morningside fans. But I’m sure their team spirit help warm up those around them as Morningside crusied past Baker University, 65-27.
I hope the links to the photo galleries are working. The Journal recently redesigned the website and there are still some bugs. I noticed on the company’s Mac’s that the photo galleries seem to work OK when browsing with Firefox, but not with Safari. They work on my home PC, but not very well, while using Explorer. If you are having problems or just want to pass along some feedback, please let me know and I will forward your comments to our online people.
Technical info: Most of these photos were shot with a Canon 50D using the 200/2 with a 1.4X Extender on manual exposure. I was at ASA 400, usually around 1/1600 second at f/3.5 but it varied a bit depending on the cloud cover. The fan shot was taken with my second body, a Canon 40D and 24-70/2.8 lens.
Morningside’s Beau Kildow break loose for a touchdown.
The Morningside defense tries to block a PAT by Baker’s Derek Doerfler.
Morningside’s Tyler Childress is tackled by Baker’s Matt Brock.
Morningside’s Beau Kildow is tackled by Baker’s Herb Askew.
As an afterthought I edited the “shooting basketball” post and mentioned that I almost always shoot indoor and night time sports on manual exposure.
Earlier today I was having a conversation with a friend and he asked about the different exposure modes on the camera and when to use them. I was looking at the dial on one of my cameras and counted 12 different exposure modes.
I only use two of those exposure modes for 99.9% of my photos. I couldn’t tell you the exact breakdown, but I would guess that about 60% of my photos are shot on aperture priority (”AV” mode) and about 40% of my shots are taken on manual exposure (”M” mode.)
By using aperture priority, I select the f/stop that I want to use to control my depth of field and the camera will automatically select the shutter speed to hopefully give me the proper exposure. If I want a fast shutter speed to stop action, all I have to do is open up my lens and the camera will give me the fastest possible shutter speed for the given lighting situation. So by using only one dial I can quickly and easily control my shutter speed and depth of field at the same time.
I use manual exposure about 40% of the time because the light meters may not always be correct. And sometimes the may be technically correct, but it’s not exposing the subject the way I want it to. For sports, it’s not unusual for one team to be wearing white uniforms. All that white can fool the light meter and give you under exposed images. Sometimes I may have a high contrast scene: for example, a person in the shade with a bright background. Do I want to expose for the background and have the person as a silhouette, or do I want to expose for the person? The camera does not know which I want, but hopefully I do and will set my exposure accordingly.
OK, I did say I use those two modes for 99.9% of my shooting, what about the rest. Well, sometimes I might be hanging out with my friends at one of our favorite watering holes and want to take a few snapshots without putting too much thought into it. That’s a good time to use one of the fully automatic modes.
Morningside’s Brittany Williamson battles for a rebound with Grandview’s Jamie Sickles during basketball action at Morningside College Tuesday, November 18, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
I had a reader ask me for tips on shooting basketball. I have no set formula for lenses or camera settings for basketball, it varies a lot depending on the gym I am shooting in at the time.
First thing I do when I arrive to a gym is determine white balance and exposure. Some gyms will work fine using the presets for tungsten or fluorescent. Others work best using a custom white balance. And I found a couple where I actually get my best results with auto white balance.
For exposure, most gyms will put me at ASA 1600 or more likely 3200. If there is enough light so I can shoot at f/2.8 and still maintain a shutter speed of 1/500 second or faster then I like to use my 24-70/2.8 and 70-200/2.8 zoom lenses. But I often use my 85/1.8 and will probably be using my new 200/2 a lot in the darker gyms. For indoor sports (and night time sports) I will almost always shoot on manual exposure.
I like to mix up my shooting locations a bit. Shooting along the baseline is good for getting shots with a short lens of players shooting and rebounding. A longer lens is useful for getting the mid-court scrambling shots. But sometimes I’ll shoot from the side of the court, from mid-court, a few rows up in the stands, or maybe a balcony if one is available. There really are no set rules.
I almost always shoot on autofocus with my camera set to AI server mode. I usually start with all of the AF points activated, but it is not unusual for me to switch to the more sensitive center point AF when the lighting and/or uniforms are low in contrast.
I set the custom functions on my cameras so that the autofocus is controlled with my thumb (using the * button on the back of my camera) instead of the shutter release. All of my lenses are ultrasonic with full-time manual focus override. By setting my cameras this way I can easily and instantly switch from AF to manual focus and back anytime. That comes in handy when a player or ref comes between me and the action, if the AF is having a hard tracking, or if the composition of the photo puts the subject outside of the AF points.
The great thing about digital cameras is you don’t have to pay for film. You can shoot a lot, some experimenting, and try new things.
The Australian Pink Floyd performs at the Orpheum Theatre Sunday, November 16, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
Sometimes the lighting at concerts can be a bit tricky for photographs, but for this concert the lighting was the big part of the show, and it was extra tricky. Concert lighting can easily throw off the cameras light meter, so it is usually best to shoot on manual exposure. But the light at this concert was constantly changing, and I was constantly changing my camera settings to keep up with it.
As with most concerts, I was only allowed to shoot the first three songs. And I heard the laser show was spectacular after the fourth song. Oh well. I’m still happy with a couple of my shots.
Sioux City’s Mike Keenan exchanges blows with Lincoln’s Sebastian Geoffrion during Musketeers hockey action at the Tyson Events Center Saturday, November 15, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
…. and a hockey game broke out. Yeah, OK, that was bad. Anyway, check out a photo gallery from the fight, er, um, game.
Briar Cliff’s Jonathan Smith dives for a pass intedned for Nebraska Wesleyan’s Tyler Ridder during football action at Memorial Field Saturday, November 15, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)
It’s cold outside. I’m offically ready for basketball season and the nice, warm gyms. At least today the sun would ocassionally poke through the clouds and give the illusion of warmth.
